The Skull
by JM West
Summary: It is legend that a terrible monster roams the thick forests of Nuland and South Western Australia. When a group of cryptologists and adventureres head out into the forests, they find somethig they fear most.


The little boy named Edward ran as fast as his little bare feet could take him. His heart pounded in his chest and his breathing was hard to control. This path through the deep woods wouldn't take him long. Or in reality it wouldn't be long before he got there. The field was only a hundred yards ahead. The dirt road was moist as usual with puddles from rain the night before. He splashed through the deep puddles of muddy water carelessly. His mother would scold him for it but whatever. He didn't care about getting wet right now. This was such an emergency.

He reached the field and passed the two abandoned cars in which were told of to have belonged to the Wildman. Off the road and into the field of waist high grass. He was the fastest boy in the fourth grade and could get there so fast but this seemed to take hours. The Marilyn's Shed was visible about two hundred yards away. He tried to pick up pace now that he was on flat ground. But knowing his luck, he would fall over a hole in the earth and sprang an ankle. He jumped over a broken fence that had once been broken by a heard of cattle that escaped five years ago.

Just a hundred yards more to run to the shed. Faster and faster. Closer and closer. This was getting closer. He finally reached the shed and fell through the door. Marilyn Clover, the owner of the shed, stared at him in disbelief. One of her customers did the same.

"Just why are you all wet and filthy coming into my store, boy," she asked, "You look like you've took a bath in your clothes."

"Miss Clover," Edward panted, "I have to tell you something."

"Just a minute."

The woman gave the woman at the counter some money back and the customer walked out.

"What's so important," she inquired.

"It's about my mum and dad," the boy proclaimed still panting for air after his four hundred yard run from town.

"They told me that they want you to…to ask your husband if he knew about the Wildman. You see, I was out hunting with my pa and he told me that he'd seen the thing… and…your husband knows everything about the woods in this country. So-"

"Ed," Marilyn groaned, "This is the second time this week. I've asked him about it already. He says their's no such thing so don't worry for Christ's sake. Good God, if you want him to take all of you birds around all over the county and the country, then I'll organize it for you. But please stop aggravating us over it!"

Ed felt like crying. No one believed him but his pa, and his mum. He wanted people to stop making fun of him. Tears stung his eyes and he turned to run away.

"Oh, Sweetheart," Marilyn said softly, "I don't mean to make fun of you."

She walked around the counter and put her arm around him. She stroked his wet hair gently to calm him down. It made Edward feel slightly better. Tears fell down his dirty face.

"I'll tell you this," she smiled, "That woods thing is a misidentification. Come sit down and I'll give you some tea and you sit here. I'll call your mum and dad for one of them to come get you. Now you sit down right in my chair behind the counter and I'll call them."

Edward nodded as the woman wiped the tears off of Edward's face. She went behind the counter and into her back office. Edward sat down in her chair spun around in it with his legs swinging. He loved these kind of chairs. Only a few places he knew of had them. The woman in the back was dialling a number in the phone. He saw her putting holding the phone up to her ear and talking under her breath to someone.

"Yes," she stated, "He's here… No…I don't know. Wait a minute will you?"

She came into the room where Edward sat still playing in the chair. He felt her put her hand on his shoulder.

"Do you want my husband to take you into the woods to show you that there's nothing there," she inquired.

Edward didn't know what to say. He knew that wouldn't be a good idea. His pa would scold him for it over ignoring advice to not go to the woods at night. He might even get a punishment like making him work for a week. But then he thought again that his pa wasn't a mean man like that.

"No," he answered, "I would need my pa's opinion first."

She walked back into the backroom and picked up the phone.

"No," she stated, "Shaking her head. He says that he needs his pa's opinion."

There was nothing said after that. Marilyn hung up the phone. She walked back up to Edward and sat down in a chair near him.

"I wouldn't worry about that stuff," she proclaimed, "Those things in the woods are nothing more than Tashu legends. I remember when I used to believe in that thing but was convinced because I learned years ago that it was only some stupid teenage kids making tracks and dressing up."

"What makes you so sure about that," Edward asked, "My pa says that there were once stories of a-"

"A monster," Marilyn laughed, "It's only a coyote or something."

Edward felt the hairs on the back of his neck raise up like a Mohacs Indian. He looked at the women with fear in his little blue eyes full of terror.

"Coyotes aren't that dangerous if you don't bother them," Marilyn stated, "I met a coyote once when I was in the highlands. They're kind of friendly if you don't irritate them."

Edward suddenly felt much better now. It was quit relieving although it was only an opinion. Marilyn was well at convincing people at things. She could convince someone that the world was made of cheese if she wanted to. It was probably from her beliefs as a scientific expert. That was one of her talents. She had once told him that a turkey in the oven one Christmas was still alive and it was crying in pain as it was being cooked. Edward had cried and cried over the dead turkey for a month until his mum convinced him that Miss Marilyn was fooling him.

He waited there for about five minutes until he finally saw his older sister, Diana, drive up to the shed. She was dressed in her preppy clothes and smoked a cigarette, holding it out the window. She came out of the car and walked into the tiny store in a hurry.

"Come on you little kiddo," she proclaimed, "I'm in a hurry to get to a party in Baloie tonight."

Edward hated the thought of riding home in the car with Diana. All she did was make fun of him over his thoughts on the woods. As a matter of fact she teased him over numerous other things. His clothes weren't right for her, the way he acted was to dorky for her and her friend, and the seventeen year old girl was such a -. He really thought so about her too. It suited her with an A+.

"Now young lady," Marilyn said, " Your folks are letting drive all the way to Baloie tonight alone? That's a two hour drive from here!"

"Oh please," Diana scowled, "I'll be taking my boyfriend with me. We can take care of each other. It's not like there's some kind of killer on the loose or something."

Marilyn looked down at Edward and stroked. She better have felt sorry for him. This was to much for him to bare. But it would be less than a two minute drive. A quarter mile to the house and over some rough ground. The most thing she could do was to slap him for running away from home. Which he didn't run away from home. He was told to come here by hid parents. They would probably laugh at his idea but still had sent him up here. That still didn't make sense to him. Parents were hard to understand at times.

"Come on Ed," Diana growled, "My man is waiting for me to pick him up because his family is going on a camping trip this weekend."

Edward very reluctantly stood up from his wonderful big chair and groaned. He walked around the counter and Diana looked down and slightly gasped. She snarled her nose.

"Little boy," she snarled, "Why in God's name are you not wearing shoes or socks? Don't you know that's dangerous?"

"Shut up would you," Edward moaned, "I'm not a snob like you."

"Boys," was all Diana would blurt out.

She walked out and got into the '89 red Cadillac. Edward followed her slowly. He could hear Marilyn say to be careful as he walked out the front door. This was a pile of crud to have to do all this. Thank God that girl would be graduating this year and moving to a house picked house in Sinhs with her boyfriend, Marvin. They would be married soon after. Then Edward would be all alone. And so would Marvin's brother, Isaac, who was a fifteen( almost sixteen year old) cryptology student who treated him as good as any older brother could possibly do.

Edward got into the passenger seat as Diana started up the engine. She started driving down the wide wet dirt road toward town. She drove up to about twenty-five miles per hour on this road even despite it being wet. Though the speed limit was thirty on this road so it was fairly safe. They started into the woods where it was slowly getting dark. He hated this despite his talk with Marilyn back at the store. She would be closing the store up about now anyway.

He clutched the edge of his seat. He watched Diana drive. She was such a strange person at this. He wandered what she really believed about it. Although she claimed that it was a load of bull, she had lately been secretly reading several of Isaac's books about the subject. There was something suspicious going on about that girl.

As they entered town Diana tossed her cigarette out the window and offered Edward one. He turned it down since he was only ten. She turned on the car radio to a pop station playing some kind of Britney Spears song. She then started moving to the beat of the music. The little boy tried to ignore her and looked out the window at the other small houses they passed. The sun set over top of the rooftops of the buildings.

"This is some good music isn't it," she declared, "It's best on the radio."

Edward didn't want to nod since he wasn't in the habit of lying to others. There were several of her friends in the street ahead of them. He hoped that she wouldn't stop. They would be all over him with their paedophilic touchiness. That he hated. His home was in sight.

Diana stopped the car in front of the house and let Edward get out of the car. He looked at her with a glare because he didn't want to see her in the near future. She laughed and drove away with her laughter echoing through air like a wicked witch. Edward walked into the house since he saw that the door was open. His mum, Viola was in the kitchen watching their pet bird screech in it's cage. It flapped it's colored wings and bobbed its head as he walked in.

"Edward," Viola stood, "I'm sorry she didn't believe you. But there's no point in bothering anyone about the thing anyway. I myself have stopped believing in it so much. It probably only a tashu legend."

"But I only wanted Marilyn's husband to know," Edward replied, "Her husband I thought would believe me."

"Ed," Viola said softly, "Ever since you saw that thing two weeks ago, you've been obsessed. I believe that you saw a misidentification. That's all."

Edward nodded and went to his room to lay down on his bed. His room was a small room with a bed, a shelf, and a closet. He had a candle beside his bed that was unlit. He couldn't see a thing in here it was so dark. He lit struck a match, lit the candle, blew the match out. Then tossed it in the garbage can. He sat down on his bed to examine his now lit room. This was going to be one weekend he wouldn't forget. He wasn't sure why, but it was definitely going to be.

*****

Isaac sat on his bed watching the candle burn, flickering a shadow against the wall of his small room. The small light eliminated the room with a yellow light and a slight feeling of warmth. He felt it too. It made him feel so well to be in here. The wind was not blowing very hard despite the window being open. It didn't faze his wonderful little candle here. He was sitting here reading a novelisation of the original Star Wars. It was an interesting novel though he had watched all the movies and this was the second time reading the book. Though he could read a book over and over again and it would stay interesting.

He rustled on his bed. His room was tiny with only his bed, a shelf, and a desk where he wrote in his journal about his ideas on certain things. He looked out the window at his yard. Marvin, his brother, would be leaving very soon. That would save him a lot of time to do things. He had something planned for tonight that he hadn't told anyone but his friend Jessica about. He needed only a few people to do this. He was going to-

"Isaac," Marvin shouted, "I'm leaving."

"Alright," Isaac exclaimed back, "I'll see you on Monday."

Isaac was now alone. His parents were going on the camping trip with another group of people, leaving him here for forty-eight hours. He didn't like the idea of spending the night alone, but they had left the family dog with him. Not to mention sending a house keeper to cook his meals and help him take care of things in the mornings. He liked it in a way despite the thoughts of what could happen without his parents around. His parents had already gone and he could hear that Diana he hated pulling out of his driveway. He sat here completely alone now. Only his dog, Rocky, was around.

He put the book away and stood up. It was now time for action. His plan was to go with a few friends into the dark woods and search for the monster. No one had given the monster a name but it was officially called the yowie. It had been a terrifying monster for decades, believed by the ancient tashu of this tiny nation to be a terror-gripping man eater haunting the woods. Though only a few people still believed in such a creature. Isaac walked into the living room, sat down on the couch, and picked up the telephone to call his friend, Wiley, to tell him about the adventure he was about to have. He dialled the number 3412 and listened to the other line ring.

"Hello," a woman inquired.

"Hey, this is Isaac," he stated, "I need to tell Wiley something. Is he around anywhere?"

"He's in his room doing homework. What do you want to tell him. I can tell him for you."

"Tell him that I'm going into the woods tonight on a hike and if he wants to come, meet me at the court house. And tell Aeris if he's coming to come with him. Got that?"

"Okay," the woman replied, "I'll tell him."

Isaac hung up. His ideas were getting better and better. This would be a one interesting trip tonight.


End file.
